


Radiation

by Icarusdg



Series: Halloween Fest 2018 [8]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Happy Ending, Imprisonment, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, discussion of a historic catastrophe, mention of Nikiforov parents, suggestion of trauma of a minor character, suicide of a minor character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 06:23:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16235984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icarusdg/pseuds/Icarusdg
Summary: Victor sits Yuuri down for a conversation and shares a secret he's kept for a very long time. Yuuri gets a little back story on Victor and learns about the childhood no one knows about.





	Radiation

**Author's Note:**

> It gets a little heavy for a bit there, but things work out. I tried to list everything in the tags and I'll explain in the end notes. Please let me know if I miss any tags.

“Yuuri, we need to talk.”

Oh God, now Yuuri knows how Victor felt all those months ago when Yuuri told him the same thing during the GPF in Barcelona. Was this it? Was Victor finally at his limit with Yuuri? Yuuri was starting to hyperventilate; it wouldn’t be long before he was unable to hear Victor entirely.

“Yuuri? Yuuri, please, I don’t mean anything is wrong, I promise. Please look at me.”

Slowly Yuuri found the strength to meet Victor’s eyes. They didn’t seem like the eyes of someone tired of him. All Yuuri saw was concern fear and… love. _A whole lot of love_. Little by little Yuuri’s breathing calmed and he was able to focus on what Victor was saying.

“I just think its time I told you something about me, something very few people know but you have every right to know and—I hope you can accept me… all of me.” Victor looked genuinely afraid, not just worried for Yuuri but afraid of being rejected. His hair had fallen over his eyes like usual and instead of his usual direct stare, he was looking at his hands which were fiddling with the end of his shirt. It was so bizarre Yuuri froze for a minute before he reached for Victor’s hands and gripped them tightly in his own.

“I will always accept you, Victor. I told you before, I just want you to be _you_.”

Victor gave a small smile before continuing. “I know. I love you, Yuuri. No matter what, I will always love you and I hope you know that.”

Yuuri leaned forward and gave Victor a small peck on the lips, smiling as he pulled back again. “I love you too, Victor. Every day with you is like a dream come true and I hope to have a lifetime more days like this. Good and bad, we can do it together.”

His Yuuri was so perfect. “Okay. This is going to be a lot so just let me know when you need to take a break.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed there’s not really any information anywhere about me before I started skating. There’s a reason for that. First of all, I didn’t spend my whole life in St. Petersburg; actually I spent a lot in Moscow like Yuri, although I didn’t meet him until much later.

As a child, my parents and I moved around a lot, my father always looking for the next big important thing he could do and my mom just going with it. He was from a good family so he went to college and got a science degree, I think physics, and he did whatever he could with that. I vaguely remember him being a professor at one point. He liked the feeling of an important job but, he was capricious and got bored of it quickly. I remember the day he decided to become a nuclear engineer; he came home and danced around the kitchen with Momma, she laughed and smiled as he spun her around. My father picked me up and held me above him, telling me excitedly, we were moving to something bigger and better. I didn’t really understand at the time but Momma was smiling so I was happy.

We moved to a new house with a little garden in a little town made just for other people like my father. I thought, he really must be special and doing something important if they made a town just for him and people like him. I don’t know how long we lived there before it happened.

One day there was this loud noise and the house shook. Momma came running from the kitchen and pulled me into her arms. I didn’t know what it was at the time; I just knew it was a scary sound. A few hours later some men came to the house and told my Momma what happened. She wouldn’t let me out of her arms so I heard them tell her my father was dead and there was something dangerous in the air. They said we would be safe in the house because of the wind.

After they left my Momma spent a long time crying and hugging me. We sat on the sofa in silence until the sun set. When she finally got up to close the curtains and turn on a light she froze. The wind changed. I don’t remember too much after that, I think she panicked because she’d forgotten about the kitchen window. All that time it was open, poisoning us. It didn’t matter, it probably was already too late from the start.

What I know about the effects, I learned later. Something about the children that were exposed, we all changed in some way. It took years but from the start it was clear something was changing. The adults weren’t so lucky. My mother died that night. She was crying in pain and throwing up. Eventually, when there was nothing else in her, she started throwing up blood. The ones who survived had cancer and died within a few years. The surviving children were put in a hospital, isolated from everyone else. It didn’t matter if we had family elsewhere, they were told we were dead and the only adults we came into contact with were a group of scientists investigating the explosion. Not even our own government knew what was going on, probably the luckiest thing to happen.

Momma had the prettiest light brown hair. Everyone said I looked just like her. She let my hair grow out and braided it in the most beautiful ways just like her own hair. I used to pick flowers for her to put in our hair. I miss that the most. How unfair is it that I kept my father’s eyes but couldn’t keep her hair? She would have liked this color too…”

Victor lost himself in thoughts of his mother so Yuuri took the moment to take in what he heard so far. If he was right about what had happened, then he knew where Victor was as a child. _But that’s impossible._ That was years before either of them were even born. The only reason Yuuri even knew was because when he was in middle school he did a project on nuclear power and the potential damage to the environment in Japan. At the time, it was the only level 7 event. _Chernobyl_.

“She used to tell me to follow my heart, even when no one else thinks it’s a good idea, do what your heart wants. Not all of us survived either; some of the children had minor gene mutations which complicated the situation. There was one girl who escaped… she was the oldest one out of all of us. She was so brave in my little child eyes. She didn’t survive though. I learned from her father that she got pregnant when she was still changing. She couldn’t go to a hospital because she was supposed to be dead. Her parents had separated so she was with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend when it happened. She managed to get all the way to Moscow where her father lived but, she was broken. I don’t think her mother and the boyfriend were good people… the scientists weren’t much better. The baby survived. Her father did his best with him; I tried to help, taught him to skate when Nikolai needed a break. I was still a child though, I had grown so much but, no one could know.

The rest of us, we stayed in that little hospital for 6 years. We shared one big ward, watched the sky through barred windows, and told each other stories to fall asleep. At least we had each other; it made things easier to know someone else was going through it with you. It was also harder when we watched one of our own die during a sudden growth spurt. In the end, it was only three of us left. I didn’t know at the time but, I think maybe, some of us were killed. There were children who would be taken out of the room and never come back. We all stopped aging for a period while our bodies adjusted. The changes that occurred would happen all of a sudden in little spurts. I woke up one day and my hair was silver, another had purple eyes. When the changes were finished, we learned how to use them. We were afraid they would take us away if they knew we could so we practiced at night in the dark. We figured out what each of us were and taught each other how to change all at once or just… parts.

Then the day they took away one of a pair of twins… and he never came back. They were everything to each other. The older boy couldn’t deal with it. He set himself on fire, when they came in and tried to put him out, he ran for them and held on, burned them with him. The last three of us escaped. It was just me and a girl with her little brother. She decided to go south where she had some distant cousins; I went to Moscow, hoping to meet with the girl who escaped before.

The world is so small Yuuri....” Victor left off what he meant by that, he only turned back to Yuuri with clearer eyes than before and asked, “Do you want to know what the change was?”

Still confused but so very curious, Yuuri answered, “Yes.”

Victor laughed a little, happy to have let go of that weight, happy that Yuuri wasn’t running away, happy that he could have _this_. “We all could shift into a specific animal. Some of us birds but not all of us. _I_ can shift into a snowy owl. The first thing I did after escaping, once I was far enough away, I shifted and spent hours soaring through the sky. It was the best feeling in the world.”

Yuuri didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have any questions; Victor answered them all before he could ask. He didn’t think Victor was lying or delusional; there were no holes in his story and it all really made sense plus, Victor was a lot of things but delusional or a liar were not any of them. Well there was one question. “How did you end up with Yakov?”

Victor burst out laughing, surprised at the question. “I think Nikolai and Yakov conspired against me; Yakov found me on an ice rink one day and told me I could come live with him and learn to skate properly. I later learned their daughters were friends once upon a time, before they died. Yakov knows about us and doesn’t care. Ah, maybe he does care and that’s the reason. I don’t know he is still a mystery sometimes.”

***

A few days later found Yuuri and Victor at an empty beach. Makka was running around, chasing waves, while the two sat on an outcropping of rock. Due to the heat, Victor had insisted they should go ready to swim so both were sitting barefoot and shirtless with Yuuri wrapped in Victor’s arms. The past few days found Yuuri quiet, still thinking over all he learned from Victor. Victor knew to give Yuuri time to work things out in his mind. As long as Yuuri wasn’t pulling away, he would just let him go at his own pace. Yuuri hadn’t asked for proof; Victor wasn’t sure what to make of that. Sometimes Yuuri would run his fingers through Victor’s hair but, he did that before too. Maybe he should push after all.

Yuuri was lost in thought, trying to picture Victor flying over the clouds. They really were so different, the sea and the sky, he was reminded of that American movie he and Phichit watched one night. There was a line, “A bird may love a fish, but where would they live?” Victor was his bird. Running his fingers over the arms around his waist, Yuuri was leaning back with his head on Victor’s shoulder when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. The most beautiful white wings fanned out around him, stretching out before settling around the both of them. A look of awe came over his face as he reached for one, gently smoothing his hands over the soft feathers. _Every day with you is a dream_. Yuuri turned to face Victor, nose nudging a cheek and breathing in Victor’s smell. He was wrapped in it. Yuuri reached for Victor’s face, turning him so they could kiss. Soft lips met his own and despite all their previous time together, this kiss felt like another first. The tremble of unsure lips gaining their confidence made it feel like the start of something new. A new beginning with Victor laid bare before him.

“They’re beautiful.” Yuuri didn’t really have anything else he could say. He’d much rather continue kissing Victor. He reached for Victor again, pulling him close so their lips could meet again. Wanting more, Yuuri ran his tongue along Victor’s lips, eager for them to part. When Victor gasped at the feeling, Yuuri took to opportunity reach inside, caressing every surface.

Unfortunately, that was when Makkachin decided she wasn’t getting the attention she deserved. Bounding up to the two, barking, Makka dove under Victor’s wings and smothered the two in wet fur and wetter kisses. Victor and Yuuri fell apart laughing, Victor’s wings disappearing and the two separating so Makka could get all the cuddles she demanded.

“Makka, Makka, Makkachin! Didn’t you see your daddies’ were having a moment?” Victor burst out laughing even louder at Yuuri’s words. He couldn’t contain the love he felt for this man who sang to his dog and referred to himself as her daddy. So much had happened in his life to get to this point and, while he still wishes things were different, still wishes his mom could meet this wonderful man, he can’t say he regrets the outcome.

“Come on Yuuri, lets go shower our baby with all the attention she wants and play with her in the water.” Looking up at Victor with the most brilliant smile, Yuuri reached for him. He would follow Victor anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> All the warnings I can think of; first of all, Chernobyl,vague description of mourning and Victor’s mother’s death. Victor is imprisoned along with other children but that is also daily vague.
> 
> There is a minor character which kills himself and others with fire, and it is mentioned that Victor suspects more were killed but all of that is vague in that Victor is glossing over his past. He also hints that he suspects abuse of another child but only says that her parents were "bad people".
> 
> All of that is lightly touched on about the same as it is here with little additional description.


End file.
